The Department of Planning provides support to Local Government to enable evidence-based planning decisions. Biodiversity and Conservation Division collaborated with Cessnock City Council in 2021-2022 to deliver environmental map layers (Environmental Lands Study) that facilitate council’s review of their Local Environment Plan. This dataset is one of those and provides a scientifically valid structural connectivity analysis for the 196,468-hectare Cessnock Local Government Area (LGA) at fine/local scale using evidence-based data. The connectivity analysis was conducted at multiple raster scales then combined into a final vector format with accuracy commensurate to a scale range of 1:500 to 1:1000. This connectivity analysis is one aspect of biodiversity information that maps the current state of biodiversity movement at a scale that can inform local planning decisions.
This dataset was derived using the Spatial Links analysis tool described in the mapping of habitat linkages study by M. Drielsma et al. (2007) because it overcomes some of the limitations of GAP CLoSR. The Spatial Links tool does not require nodes for patches because it can assess each cell in a patch as a start/endpoint. Additionally, Spatial Links overcomes any limitations of addressing the infinitely variable and complex spatial configuration of any landscape. A more detailed examination of the Spatial Links methodology compared to other analytical techniques is discussed in the detailed studies of connectivity for planning by M. J. Drielsma et al. (2022).
This study adopted the 106 m gap-crossing threshold and overcame the singular 1100m maximum dispersal threshold by applying multiple scales that addressed a range of dispersal distances to cater for varying ecological traits of fauna and flora.
The final dataset results from the Spatial Links analysis at fine scale across the Cessnock LGA buffered by 1km to avoid any abrupt termination of connectivity at the edges of the LGA.
